Elkarkri Machij: ‘The Movement Saharawi for Peace is a real political alternative’

In an interview published by the newspaper Shafaf (The Transparent), the spokesman for International Relations and member of the Executive of the Socialist Party of Morocco (USFP) Dr Elkarkri Machij has referred to the emerging position of the Movement Saharawi for Peace (MSP). 

The MSP echoed this interview in a statement on its Media Committee on its website, in which Elkarkri Machij highlighted the role of the MSP as a ‘real alternative’ to find a political solution to the question of Western Sahara.

According to the statement, the MSP emerged as a new political voice reflecting the aspirations of broad sectors of the Saharawi population and, according to Elkarkri Machij, it rejects violence unlike the rival Polisario Front which is in decline, adopting the alternative of a ‘political solution’. 

The official statement of the MSP is reproduced below: 

Dr Elkarkri Machij: ‘The Movement Saharawi for Peace is a real political alternative’

In an interview published by the newspaper Shafaf (The Transparent), the spokesman for International Relations and member of the Executive of the Socialist Party of Morocco (USFP) Dr Elkarkri Machij has referred to the emergence of the Movement Saharawi for Peace (MSP) and its role as a ‘real alternative’ in the search for a political settlement to the Saharawi dispute.

The Shafaf newspaper noted in the introduction to the interview that ‘amidst the changes taking place in the Tindouf camps, the Movement Saharawi for Peace emerged as a new political voice reflecting the aspirations of broad sectors of the Saharawi population, especially in light of the clear decline of the Polisario Front at the diplomatic and military level’. 

Elkarkri Machij pointed out that the ‘Polisario no longer has a monopoly on representing the Saharawis in this dossier, after almost half a century of claiming to be the sole voice representing the Saharawis’. 

The political analyst explained that important changes are taking place at the level of Saharawi representation, highlighting the emergence of the ‘Movement Saharawi for Peace’, which has managed to impose itself as a real political alternative that enjoys broad representation within the Tindouf camps, in the territory and among Saharawis abroad, whether in Europe, the Canary Islands or other countries.

Elkarkri Machij explained that the Movement Saharawi for Peace ‘represents a qualitative change in the political scenario related to the Sahara issue, as this movement has gained great international recognition, embodied in the acceptance of its membership in the Socialist International, which is the world's largest political organisation grouping over 130 parties from some 70 countries’.

The head of International Relations of the USFP stressed that ‘the new Saharawi movement, unlike the Polisario, rejects violence and adopts the option of a political solution’, underlining that ‘the geopolitical transformations in the region played an important role in the deepening isolation of the Polisario, since many countries, which had previously supported the Polisario Front, radically changed their positions’. 

This is the second time in recent weeks that leaders of the Moroccan Socialist Party have referred to the decisive role of the MSP in the solution of the Western Sahara problem. After the MSP joined the Socialist International of which the USFP is a member, the party's top leader, Driss Lachgar, stressed at a conference of his party's groups in the town of Sjirat ‘the importance of the MSP and the need for it to participate in the efforts for a political solution to the Saharawi dispute’.